Oakland Keeps Their Play-off Hopes Alive With A Win Over The Broncos

What better start could a team want than a 71 yard touchdown run on an end around play from Jacoby Ford to go up 7-0 against your divisional rivals after only 12 seconds? Oakland did what they do best in divisional games. They made a statement. It was something like, ‘get used to not being able to catch us’.

It wasn’t all smiles in the first half, as Tim Tebow showed why he made waves in Florida by running in for a score - but it was to be Oakland’s day.

They looked great on both sides of the ball and I cannot praise the Oakland offensive line enough coming off this win. Jason Campbell needed great pass protection in order to settle the nerves that he may have been feeling from his performance last week in the game against Jacksonville, and those big guys delivered. This goes for both the run and the pass. Darren McFadden was allowed to have an amazing day, as did Michael Bush, rushing for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns between them. Because Oakland’s running game is such a threat, it opens up their passing game, allowing them to be dynamic in both forms of offence, making them a very tough team to stop when their offence is in rhythm.

They looked like a play-off team to me. Any team that can put up a total of 502 yards against a team that has Champ Bailey and D.J Williams on their defence is definitely one to look out for.

This game was almost a complete antithesis of the Jacksonville game the previous week. Instead of fumbling on a key play, the ‘Ford Focus’ would run into the end zone for a touchdown. When Jason Campbell was taken to the sidelines after getting shaken up on a hit, instead of throwing the ball like last week, Kyle Boller simply handed the ball off to his hot running backs who were able to pick up yardage.

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Defensively, I’m really impressed with Tommy Kelly, the defensive tackle. He’s got 7 sacks on the season and he knows when to step up. He gets great penetration on the line of scrimmage and is excellent at jumping on the snap count in order to make a play. There was a great (and funny) play where Kelly stopped Knowshon Moreno from getting the score on a 2 nd and goal and lost his pants in the process! Now that’s taking one for the team!

Oakland need help to get into the play-offs, but even if they don’t make it, they can take so many positives from this season and they will most certainly be back next year having cleaned up all the areas that need work. Meanwhile, I’m still staying positive that they can win against Kansas City in the final week of the season to go 6-0 in their division and make their tie-breakers even better.

The Raiders will need to win both of their last two games against the Indianapolis Colts and against the Kansas City Chiefs, which will definitely not be easy. Jamal Charles looked shaken up after a long run last week against St. Louis so he might not play in the game against the Raiders. If he is out, it will make Oakland’s defensive job a lot easier as they won’t have to deal with the key component of the #1 rushing team in the league.

As for the Colts? Well, I believe them to be very beatable. Peyton Manning will most likely be without his go-to receiver Austin Collie, so this game is definitely winnable. They don’t run the ball well, but have been pulling it together in recent weeks. If the Cowgirls can take them close, the Raiders can pull of the win.

All the best from the UK!

By: Tom Greenhalgh
ProFootball-fans.com Oakland Raiders Correspondent